Politics & Issues

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

With that, we the people formed the federal government to promote the general welfare of the people.

On Aug. 3, all eyes in the nation will turn toward Missouri, as voters in the Show-Me State become the first anywhere to cast a ballot concerning the federal health-care plan foisted upon them. A "yes" vote on Proposition C -- the Health Care Freedom Act -- will tell the nation that Missourians have looked at this expensive, ill-conceived and unhealthy measure and rejected it.

Based on their ads and major campaign events, one might think that Republicans Tom Schweich and Allen Icet were running for a post in Washington instead of state auditor in Jefferson City.

The two are vying on Aug. 3 for the GOP nomination for state auditor, and the right to challenge Democratic incumbent Susan Montee in November. But for the moment, she's not the focus of either potential rival.

One of the region's most significant contests on the Aug. 3 ballot is also, according to some political insiders, one of the most ignored.

Voters in Jefferson County will take the first step toward electing their first-ever county executive and a seven-member County Council. After the November elections, the county will formally do away with its old form of county-commission government and follow through with the dictates of the new charter the county voters approved in 2008.

Rock and roll legend Chuck Berry should be duck-walking across Kiener Plaza later this month, while representatives of the Democratic National Committee are scouting around town to see if St. Louis is good enough to host a presidential convention in 2012,

Local Democratic officials say that Berry and "a mystery guest'' will headline a free concert in the plaza on July 29, beginning at 8:30 p.m.

Political operatives report that Corrigan -- who is hoping to oust St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley in November -- has purchased significant blocks of ad time on area cable outlets and broadcast stations.

Less than two weeks before the Aug. 3 primary, it's time for the candidates to tout last-minute endorsements from various big-name politicians in hopes of swaying any still-undecided voters or, in the case of uncontested races, heighten ones profile for the fall.

Today, U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., announced he has chosen sides in the combative Democratic primary in the 24th state Senate district, and is endorsing former state Rep. Sam Page, D-Creve Coeur.

The off-year elections are looming and, fairly or not, they figure to be a referendum on the Obama administration. If the polls are even close to accurate, it looks as though the "Yes, We Can!" crowd could be in for a "That's What You Think" awakening.

Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, the best-known Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, has just proposed three general-election debates for after the Aug. 3 primary.

The catch is that Carnahan is calling for the debates to feature the nominees from not just the two major parties but also the Constitution and Libertarian parties, which have automatic ballot access in Missouri. (Any other parties have to collect a certain number of signatures to get their candidates on the November ballot in the state.)

Brad Hildebrand's small AM radio station in Washington, Mo., is called "The Mouth."

And the station is definitely making political waves with its morning voice: state Rep. Brian Nieves, R-Washington and a candidate in arguably the region's most competitive Republican primary for the state Senate.

For the second July in a row, almost to the day, Gov. Jay Nixon is in Iraq meeting with Missouri troops.

Nixon's just recently announced that the governor left Jefferson City on Monday and, after a short stop in Washington, headed overseas with four other governors as part of a Pentagon-organized trip. Last year's tour also included a visit to Afghanistan.

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial commemorates the settlement of the west and distills that epic story into a single iconic symbol -- the Gateway Arch. Conceived in 1933, the Memorial began with a question: What should the city do about 40 blocks of historic riverfront buildings that were mostly vacant and deteriorating? The answer was obvious: commemorate all the history that happened in those buildings, history that fundamentally shaped our nation in the 19th century.

Nearly a month into the restoration of Metro service, some Metro riders have jumped back aboard while others are still waiting for their bus.

The June 28 restoration, which Metro called a "soft launch," mainly increased frequency on MetroLink and the most crowded bus routes, said Jessica Mefford-Miller, Metro's chief of planning and system development.

He got involved, however, when he started his own practice and knew people who were graduating from American schools and wanted to stay and work as professionals. Then, the majority of his clients had a minimum of a bachelor's degree and were offered jobs, but that only made up about 20 percent of his practice for a while.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: When the Beacon sent out a query through our Public Insight Network asking about people's experiences with race, we got more than 100 responses from old and young, black, white, Hispanic, American Indian and foreign-born.

Here, we share some of those stories, from a black woman who saw a Middle Eastern man refused service, to an Iranian family business who found community support when they least expected it.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: When crews closed part of Highway 40 (Interstate 64) in January, MoDOT and much of St. Louis held their collective breath waiting to see whether the predicted gridlock would indeed occur.

Thanks to good planning and the public's willingness to take MoDOT's advice to stay home, take Metro, travel early or late and find alternative routes, life — or at least vehicular traffic — went on.

For Rocky Sickmann of St. Louis, the U.S. war on terrorism began nearly 30 years ago -- on the morning he was taken hostage by Iranian militants and survived, along with 51 other American captives, 444 days of torment.

"If you talk to a lot of the hostages, you know the war on terrorism started on Nov. 4, 1979, when we did not retaliate on Iran. And it seems like Iran has humiliated us and taken us for granted ever since,'' Sickmann says.